"Go tell Keros to give up Fort Olega...... No, let him burn Fort Olega, take everything he can and return to Siyuan City! Since the Legion of Dread's cavalry is so strong, you can't fight them in the field!"

Emperor Marius closed his eyes and gritted his teeth to give the order.

The Shadow Centurion immediately took the command and turned away, his spear pouch empty.

"I'm sorry, Sura, my friend, I know you have a base at Fort Olega...... You've come all the way to help me, but I've had to sacrifice your auditorium."

Emperor Marius turned and spoke into a dark corner of the hall.

"As it should be, Your Majesty. The Great Hall can be rebuilt at any time, and we're willing to pay whatever it takes to defeat the Dreadcorps...... Don't let the Snake Cult know that we're here, so that the Shadow Wolf can play a bigger role......

A warrior wearing a wolf-shaped helmet stepped out of the shadows: "You are as great as His Majesty Manius, and I am glad that I have met the wise Emperor on both continents...... The Shadow Wolves will take all your orders and die without regret."

The wolf's head stretched out from the overlay was supposed to be for shading, and the warrior named Sulla had blood-red eyes, but it was the opposite of Emperor Marius.

The whites of Marius' eyes were bloodshot, which was caused by exhaustion;

Sura, on the other hand, is a blood-colored child, apparently formed in the dark over the years.

Probably not used to being in a well-lit place, Sula took two steps back, once again avoiding the shadows.

"Sula, I'll rebuild your station at Sava Fort. After Kairos' army entered the city...... Help me get rid of the Snake Cult in his army...... Whoever it is."

Emperor Marius gave the order softly, but it seemed to be a little difficult.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I guarantee that in a few days, there will be no more people related to the Snake Worship Sect in the entire Siyuan City."

Sula bowed her head and said, "Your Majesty, it is true that we cannot compete head-on with the Dreaded Legion, but the Phoenix Knights should be coming soon. General Titus' fleet will land directly from Siyuan City with them, and I think you should have horses ready for them."

"I must thank the Grey Empire for their help......

Emperor Marius nodded.

"Had it not been for the support of General Titus with his fleet, our port would have been completely occupied by the Serpent Cult two months ago, and your selfless help would have been rewarded with the full support of the Grey Descendants. In order to deal with the Serpent Worship, we must unite all ......."

Sula bowed slightly, then retreated into the darkness and vanished.

Three days later, a raging fire broke out at Fort Olaiga.

The defense battle of Siyuan City seems to continue.

……

December 355 of the Pande calendar.

Changhe Town.

Gran and Fawsette reported to Leon that they had succeeded in destroying the lair of the Three Prophets and "found" the King's Seal in the presence of Baron Heriward, Lord of the Swamp.

It's just that they haven't met the Three Prophets, and they don't know where they are now......

But the two of them did receive a pardon from King Ulrik in the Lion City, and they managed to clear their hands and go ashore.

At the same time, both of them lost their inheritance rights to Lion Lake City.

Forsette's murder was blamed on Milgan, and treason was recognized as a "matter of interest" - King Ulrik did not embarrass him, after all, the king did not need to push him into the arms of his enemies.

Because his exile by Alma was public, Alma's banishment of him was actually depriving him of his inheritance, as long as it was the property of the Horton family, it had nothing to do with Forsett.

And Grandlon is similar, King Ulrique agrees with Nerda to inherit the throne of Duke Alma, and it is also a fact that Grandlon and Nellda divorced, so Grandlon does not get any inheritance.

But for this kind of divorce filed by the woman, Grandlon can get the dowry that Nalda brought when she got married.

thereupon

As a knight, Grandon became the lord of Payne Village, and still leads the First Banner Guard of Lion Lake City.

And Forsette got his original territory, the village of Herminerd, also as a knight - this is the territory that Forsette obtained for Count Auden after Alma occupied the town of Long River last year, and it belongs to Forsette's own legal territory, and it really has nothing to do with the Horton family.

They were no longer traitors, and King Ulrique gave them fair treatment.

Subsequently, King Ulrique announced a wedding......

He asked Prince Aranrike to marry an eight-year-old girl from the Holden family......

The wedding was not only strange, but also hasty - it took only a day and a half from the announcement of the engagement to the completion of the wedding, and a banquet in the palace solved all the problems, and the banquet did not wait for any guests at all.

The people who participated in the wedding were only the nobles in Lion City, and as the family of the "prince and princess", there were only five or six people from the Horton family......

As soon as the wedding ended, the Duke of Lion Lake City, a first-class tall lordship, was given to the eight-year-old girl.

Then the Lion City House of Lords publicly announced that the Duke of Lion Lake City would leave all titles and affairs to his husband, Prince Aranrik.

According to the House of Lords, the eight-year-old girl was originally Alma's niece, who had been passed to Nerda, the daughter of Duke Alma, when she was born eight years earlier.

This kind of blood relationship is equivalent to biological birth, so this is the granddaughter of Duke Alma and the first heir of Lady Nerda.

Of course, Grandon knew that the girl had nothing to do with Nerda, but no one would delve into it at this time, and no one in the Holden family said anything anyway.

As a result, Lion Lake City nominally became the fiefdom of Prince Aranrik.

But except for the appearance of this prince when he "got married", he has been "recuperating" on the tower of Lion City for the rest of the time, and he can't go to Lion Lake City.

As a result, the city was temporarily under the administration of the Royal Knights, and King Ulrik built a new auditorium for the Lion Knights in the city.

It is clear that the king intends to replenish the badly damaged lion knights in Lion Lake City.

Overall, Ulrique's decision was reasonable, but it was a bit petty.

Even Grandlon felt that this belonged to the right and standing, and he had to buckle the rope to find the rules in the rules.

In fact, Grandlon and Forsette had come to Leon not primarily to report the situation, but to swear allegiance.

Both Grandlon and Forsette are now knights, and they have no allegiances - both of them had previously been loyal to Duke Alma, but Alma died.

It's the end of the year, and as the largest lord in the eastern region, Leon, the new earl, has ushered in the traditional project of the Lion Realm—the allegiance of knights and knights.

The town of Long River changed its flag for two years, the Duke of Elfwan and the Duke of Alma died one after another, Lady Bella became a heretic, and Lord Malbert returned to Crag Bay...... This caused many knights to lose their allegiance.

At the same time, the continuous wars caused many knights to die on the battlefield, and during the time when the Three Prophets were doing things, there were many minor nobles who gave up their territories to follow the Three Prophets, and many knights went bankrupt because of this.

Now in the eastern region, these broken nobles who have lost their allegiance, knights who have lost their territories, and servants who have lost their masters are everywhere.

Most of these people will choose to swear allegiance to the largest local lord at the end of the year.

The main reason why they all do this traditional project at the end of the year is because these people have to avoid the time of tax collection......

Of course, knights with fiefs could have done otherwise and could have declared their allegiance to the king - but that meant that they would have to face all the calamities alone, with no one to support them, and they would inevitably face encroachment by the surrounding lords and the troubles of the kingdom's tax collectors......

Like a pioneer lord, he has to face everything alone, and he can't be absent when it's time to fulfill his obligations, such as being called into battle.

But he

Their own territory is limited, and they can't expand around the frontier at will like the Pioneer Lords, and they don't have the Pioneer Lord's one-year tax exemption......

For most knights, it is much better to have a proper boss than to fight alone, especially those who can only fight and not build the economy - otherwise they will probably go bankrupt after a defeat.

As for the servants who have lost their master, they must follow a new lord to get a chance to turn over again.

The number of knights under the command of the new earl of Leon is very small, so there must be more opportunities.

Therefore, the lord has had to accept many people who have taken vows to him on one knee every day for the last few days......

The allegiance ceremony of the servants is actually very simple, it is to kneel on one knee like a marriage proposal, cross and make a prayer, and then swear allegiance to the lord.

And the lords need to hold their hands in front of the idol of the goddess of order to show their acceptance.

Due to the large number of knights and servants who lost their masters, these servants were originally the sons of nobles, and although they were all second sons or side branches, according to tradition, they had to swear allegiance to the lord one by one......

As a result, the hall of the lord of Changhe Town has been receiving the servants queuing up for allegiance every day for the past few days, all kinds of chaotic swallowtail flags and shields are dazzling, and the mud outside the city is trampled by the passing horses.

Li Ang has been in a trance for the past few days, and he has to be courted by hundreds of dirty men every day with marriage proposals, and everyone has to be in a trance......

Fortunately, after all, this is to increase strength, every time you meet a person, it means that your strength has increased by one point, and these people are qualified fighters.

There are quite a lot of servants who have come to take refuge, close to three hundred, and there are indeed too many noble children in the Lion Realm.

There were quite a few Broken Knights, more than a dozen, almost all of them bankrupt guys, and a few were so poor that they didn't even have armor - apparently sold......

Of course, the knight's allegiance ceremony will be more formal, with the sword on the shoulder and the lord having to recite the oath.

But knights are not the same as Hu Cong.

What the servants are currently pursuing is only formal aristocracy, which is easy to arrange.

However, what these traditional knights want is to get back the old territory or get the new territory, and this concept of appeal is completely different, and the lord naturally has to treat it differently.

It happened that Grandlon and Forsette came to take refuge, so Leon handed over all the knights who had come to take refuge with Forsette, and then gave Forsette a task.

Banditry.

The cold winter has arrived, and the northern countries of the Pander continent are no longer fighting each other.

Once again, the Raven Kingdom has been attacked by many Misty Mountain raiders, and the Van Skerry pirates have once again made their way south to the West Coast Fields Territory for the winter, and everything is no different.

And after the annual winter tax in the Lion Kingdom, there will always be a large number of bandits and bandits, which is no different from the past.

In fact, after January next year, many "bandits and bandits" will return to the villages and become good citizens......

And the so-called "Misty Mountain People" and "Pirates" encountered by the Raven Kingdom and Fieldway may not all be from Misty Mountain or Van Skerry......

Of course, the lords of various countries will also lead troops to chase after them, but these so-called "bandits" who are more familiar with the terrain than the locals are difficult to exterminate, and the lords themselves actually understand this......

Yes, everything is no different from what it used to be, and Pande has been like this for more than a hundred years.

At present, there are also many "bandits" around Changhe Town.

However, what is relatively rare is that most of the bandits near Changhe Town do not seem to be the kind of poor people in ragged clothes, and from time to time you can actually see some heraldic burqas on them......

Although they also have a sneaky style and a style of bullying the weak and fearing the hard, it is obvious that these so-called bandits and robbers in Changhe Town are not skilled in their business skills, and even the level of hiding their whereabouts is quite poor.

However, these guys are very well-informed and always manage to move before Eric's bandit troops arrive.

In fact, both Lord Lord and Eric are well aware of the identities of these so-called bandits, but they are not familiar with these people, and it is difficult to find them.

So the lord decided to leave this matter to Forsette......

Because Forsette was more familiar with these so-called bandits.

Most of them were local nobles who had lost their allegiance, but were not very willing to submit to Leon's rule.

Some became bandits in order to evade taxes, some habitually robbed at this time, and some were forced to "borrow" from the bank and then run away.

Forsette is really good at dealing with these guys.

He first went to the bank with great fanfare and took out a loan, using his territory of Erminad as collateral, and the loan amount was very large, full 20,000 dinars, and began to recruit troops.

This is really a loan, and it is well known, after all, this is the largest single loan of Pande Bank.

Then he led his troops to create a large eucalyptus - he robbed a convoy transporting taxes from the town of Long River to the Lion City, a full 75,000 dinars......

After the raid, the knights were all scattered, and Forsette went with his troops to the village of Trubrun.

This incident naturally caused an uproar, and the entire Changhe Town was a sensation.

It didn't take long for taverns and villages to learn that the tax had been looted by Forsette, the former "Duke of Lion Lake", who seemed to be planning to form an alliance against the tyranny of Count Leon's forced loans, and was recruiting men at high prices.

There is also a code word of "entering the long river in January" in various places......

So, one after another "bandits" went to Troubrun.

Maybe some of them are for the sake of blackness, maybe some of them are for joining Forsette's command to deal with Leon together, and maybe some of them have some other invisible people's purposes......

But on the last day of December, all the "bandits" disappeared into Tlubrunn.

And Forsette did enter the town of Changhe on the first of January, and returned the 95,000 dinars to the lord in public...... At the same time, he refuted the rumors in public, saying that someone pretended to be himself before, and he just killed the group of bandits.

Anyway, no matter what others think, at least the matter is settled, and it has nothing to do with the lord......

Forsette knew that this was a petition for the name, and it was the obligation of the new Ma Tsai to help the boss carry the black pot.

"How many people died?"

The lord was extremely satisfied with Forsette's performance, and this level was indeed the true inheritance of Duke Alma.

"I didn't count, I couldn't count my hands in the middle of the night...... But my lord, I must tell you, there was a lion knight among them, and a baron......

Forsert mentions murder without any emotion at all.

"Baron? Where was his original fief?"

The lord didn't expect that there were high-ranking nobles involved.

"It's Trumbrunn. But there were no villagers in that place, so he robbed everywhere some time ago. He was probably one of Duke Brenus's men, and he was said to be cruel, and the group had originally regarded him as a leader......

Forsette shook his head, "But I didn't have time to ask his name, I just know that everyone calls him Captain, and he is the military attache of the Lion Knights."

"I'm not interested in knowing the name of a dead man, whoever he is...... Troubrun still has your men stationed, and the inhabitants of McChan may gradually move there, and Brenus will not care about it."

Leon didn't care much, anyway, the lion knight died at the hands of Forsette, and it had nothing to do with him......

"Do you need to bring the loot to River?"

Forsette behaved sensible.

"My rule here is that whoever gets the loot belongs to whomever he gets, and he doesn't have to hand it over, it's all yours."

The lord behaved quite generously: "Also, Forsette, if you can make your realm prosperous and rich, all the lords will live in peace and prosperity...... Then, I'll help you get Lion Lake City back......

"I'll do my best...... My lord

…… But why?"

Forsette was stunned for a moment, he obviously didn't expect Leon to say that.

Lion Lake City, of course, this is the wish of Forsette's heart, and he can even be treason for it.

But he didn't understand that Li Ang could have controlled him, why was he willing to help him?

The lord patted him on the shoulder, "I never treat a sincere friend badly, no matter what he has done."

It's easy to have a smart guy who can do black work, and Changhe Town is quite clean now, and everything is running well.

Thousands of recruits were called up to the town of Long River, and Jocelyn trained the recruits at an excellent level, and the two-month training was nearing completion.

A large number of weapons and equipment were continuously transported, and grain and grass were also piled up in the warehouse.

Talon Forts also sent thousands of horses, the spoils of the last time they killed the Catu.

The overall strength of the lord now can be called to improve by leaps and bounds, and he lacks almost nothing.

However, the gods of the Pande Continent probably don't want to let the lord sit idle and concentrate on development......

At the beginning of January 356 in the year of the Pandeli calendar, an uninvited guest came to the town of Changhe.

It was a pretty Bacchus girl with a couple of Radiant Cross Knights. The girl was holding the banner of Emperor Marius.

"Count Leon, I have come to ask for help on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor......